Safety ground clamp



Jan. 14, 1947. G, G, RUAX 2,414,180

SAFETY GROUND CLAMP Filed June 26, 1945 fiver/folflow e Dada;

Patented Jan. 14, 1947 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE l 2,414,180 SAFETYGROUND CLAMP George G. Truax, Renton, Pa. 3 .Applicationlu'ne V26, 1945,Serial No. 601,593

4 Claims. (Cl. 173-4273) tive is moving away from the point of ur on itsreturn trip.

ment but to ecome automatically disengaged Referring to the drawing, Idesi n t s the ca le from the rail as the locomotive approaches saidwhich is wound on a reel carried on the upper point on its return path ftr v l, portion of the locomotive and is maintained in easy to apply toa rail, and. automatic in its disclamp member 5. Rai1 clamp member 5comreaches a point ad acent th c n t on t extending arm portion 1 to theend of which wire turn tr1p toward Sald c nn t 4 is connectedRail-engaging portion 6 com- Further objects and advantages of theinvenprises a ge rally channel-Shaped body adapted tion will appear fromthe fgflowjng description t0 fit over the rail head, the side Walls ofsaid body and claims, and from the accompanying drawing, being w d yConverged r m the fr n d wherein: rear ends of the body to define acentral con- Figure 1 is a perspective View showing t raj] strictedregion adapted to closely fit and frictionconnector device applied tothe rail of a mine ally engage the rail head when cable I is intenrailway in operating position, sion. At diagonally opposite cornersof portion Figure 2 is a view in side levatio of th 6 the side walls areformed with triangular lug nector device employed in Fi r 1, elements 8,8 adapted to underlie the rail head Figure 3 is a bottom view of th o nt when the connector has been rotated into gripvice of Figure pingposition, said lug elements defining a pas- Figure 4 is across-sectional view taken on line Sageway for receiving the rail headin the Process 4-4 ofFigure 2. of mounting the connector thereon. Tofacilirdinarily the main passages in a mine are tate the automaticdisengagement of the conried on a reel under tensio m t d on t up 40 ofthe inner side Wall surfaces of the channelhand when the locomotivereturns to the junction neI-shaped body to allow the connector to bepoint. Quite frequently, the locomotive. operator, thus rotated out ofengagement with the rail head when returning to the junction point withaloadby the upward component of force exerted by ed train, is unable tostop and frequently runs the cable on the approaching locomotive.

aver the cable, causing short circuits and other While a specificembodiment of a connector device for an electric mine locomotive hasbeen disclosed in the foregoing description, it will be understood thatvarious modifications within the spirit of the invention may occur tothose skilled in the art. Therefore, it is intended that-no limitationsbe placed on the invention other than a defined by the scope of theappended claims.

What is claimed is:

.1. A rail clamp device comprising a generally channel-shaped bodymember adapted to engage a rail head and an arm extending laterally fromsaid body member, the inner side wall surfaces of said body memberconverging to define a reduced intermediate section for said bodymember, diagonally opposite nd portions of said inner wall surfacesbeing downwardly and outwardly inclined. g 2. The structure of claim 1,and wherein an inwardly extending lug member is provided on the sidewall opposite each of the downwardly and outwardly inclined surfaces,said lug members defining a rail head-receiving space with respect tosaid inclined surfaces.

3. A rail connector device for a mine locomotive comprising a generallychannel-shaped body member adapted to engage a rail head and an armextending laterally from the inner side wall surfaces of said bodymember converging from the front and rear ends of said member to definea reduced intermediate section adapted to frictionally grip a rail head,diagonally opposite end portions of said inner wall surfaces beingdownwardly and outwardly inclined, and the other diagonally opposite endportions of said inner wall surfaces being formed with inwardlyprojecting lug elements adapted to underlie the rail head. 7

4. The structure of elaim 3, and wherein said lug members define a railhead-receiving space with respect to said inclined wall surfaces, thespace provided being such that the connector device may be rotated offthe rail head by a light 20 upward force applied to the arm.

GEORGE G. TRUAYIIC. I

said body member,

